Campaigning for People, Not Politics

How COVID-19 refocused U.S. Senator John Cornyn’s reelection campaign

“When you’re not sure what to do, do good.”

That was the message sent by U.S. Senator John Cornyn to his campaign staff as confirmed cases of COVID-19 were being reported throughout the state and country. Texans and their families were filled with uncertainty and anxiety like they’ve never faced before. During times of crisis, Senator Cornyn knows that people – not politics – should be our chief focus.

Needless to say, social distancing and stay-at-home measures turned normal campaigning on its head. Typically, the Team Cornyn campaign staff would be busy organizing statewide trainings, block walks, phonebanks and recruiting campaign volunteers. Now, the team’s regional directors had a new mission: refocusing their efforts from recruiting volunteers for the campaign to connecting residents to ways to give back in their local communities. And they led by example.

In Tarrant County, Regional Director Jacob Bywaters signed up for shifts at the Tarrant Count Food Bank and Mission Arlington, and started delivering Meals on Wheels for homebound seniors. Mason Morgan, who oversees field work in Dallas County, helped out at a Christian food pantry where he packaged, distributed and sorted meals for more than 400 families on a single Saturday alone. Multiplying his efforts, Morgan then partnered with candidate Gerson Hernandez (HD-105) to set up and run a drive-thru food bank. Together, they were able to provide more than 150 families with bags of food.

Other staff have volunteered at Our Daily Bread, Metrocrest Food Services, and Christian Community Action as well.

Team Cornyn is using social media, email and phone calls to not only encourage the campaign’s volunteers to follow their lead in giving back, but also see if supporters or their families needed assistance. Dallas and Fort Worth residents can reach out to [email protected] to find safe ways to volunteer or give back during this time.

No doubt there will be a time again for politics and campaigning. In the meantime, however, Senator Cornyn will continue to push for critical resources to help Texans and their businesses, and his team will be the boots-on-the-ground ensuring our communities and neighbors have what they need to overcome these uncertain times. We’re in this together, so let’s be sure to take care of one another.